The London Challenge

Making Devolution Work

Easy Read The London Challenge

Making Devolution Work

Devolution is where some power or responsibility is passed down to local government from central government.

This could mean that work that used to be done by the Government would start to be done by a Local borough council or in Scotland or Wales by their own parliaments.

London Councils thinks that some of the work that is being done by central government could be done better if it is done by local councils. London Councils is made up of the 32 London Boroughs and the City of London. It works with the Mayor of London.

London Councils is an organisation that can work on projects that help all of London. Helping people with complex needs to get a job.

We think that it would be much better if all of the work to help people with complex needs to get a job in London is done by London Boroughs.

At the moment the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) pays a few large companies to help people with complex needs to find work.

At the same time some London Boroughs have been running projects which help people to overcome the barriers to getting work. We think that there should be one fund of money for employment services in London.

This should include the money that is spent by central government and the money that is being spent by London Boroughs.

The money would be spent by people in London Boroughs who understand the local conditions and local problems. Who is this for?

There are about half a million people in London who want a job but have difficulties in finding one.

This includes people with:

- Disabilities and learning difficulties
- Health problems
- Difficult housing problems
- Problems with drugs

and people who do not speak English as their first language. Local employment projects

Some London Boroughs have been running projects that show that local organisations can really help people to find a long term job.

For example:

- **Wandsworth’s Workright.** This project helps people with disabilities to get a real job in the council. Council departments and schools were asked to look at work that could be more flexible. **Over 3 out of 10 people got a long term job.** Southwark’s Vocational Recovery Service. This is a specialist training and advice programme for people with mental health problems. Nearly 3 out of 10 people got a long term job.

Brent in 2 Work is a network of organisations who are supporting the hardest to reach people to get a job. They were helping more than 1000 people a year into work. 4 out of every 10 people got a long term job. Pilot projects

A ‘pilot project’ is a small project that shows how things could be done better.

We have been working with central government on projects that will show how working together locally will help more Londoners with complex needs find work.

- **ESA Pilot** - From April 2015, eight London Boroughs will work with people who have not been able to find work under the **Work Programme**.

They will test whether a local project is better at helping people to find work than the government scheme.

**ESA** stands for Employment and Support Allowance and it is a government benefit for people whose illness or disability affects their ability to work. The **Work Programme** is a Government scheme which uses mostly large companies to help people who have been unemployed for a long time to get a job.

- **Mental Health Trailblazer.** This scheme will look at local support for people with mental health problems.

- **Flexible Support Funding Pilot** - we are working with the DWP and London Boroughs to agree how to use this fund for unemployed Londoners.

- **Local Support Services Framework** - We are looking at how **Universal Credit** can be used to help employment schemes.

**Universal Credit** is a new welfare benefit from the government. It replaces 6 former benefits. In the future

We would like to do more:-

- One funding pot for employment services in London

- Involving local Government in decisions about new national employment programmes

- We want to be able to work with local employers and look at how we can help people to have the skills that local employers need. Other ideas

We think that there are lots of other ways that we can improve services and cut costs by moving power and responsibility from central government to the local level. For example:

- Supporting families with complex needs
- Personalised Health and Adult Care
- Helping people who have come out of prison
- Housing and Education
- The power to raise money from taxes